An
exceptionally well-written thriller, about a group of retired service
agents who decide to investigate the disappearance of a young woman,
only to uncover a complex web of espionage and brutality. This
character-based tale is intricate and vivid, and showcases
wonderfully Pablo Palazuelo’s competencies as an author; he is
certainly very high quality – talented, intelligent and stylish –
and the translation of this book from his native Spanish to English
is all-but flawless. There are some great qualities to “Never Too
Late To Die”, and to Pablo’s work generally - it
is very
well-researched, and clearly the result of a good deal of hard work
by the author. All the ingredients are present for a great thriller:
the action scenes are top notch - dark, brutal and vivid - and it
builds to a rousing
climax. Pablo creates some great set-pieces, and his villains are
truly high-calibre nemeses, more than capable of supporting a
top-level action thriller.

However,
I’m somewhat loath to say that I would actually dumb this book down
a touch, just to make it more palatable; I feel the atmosphere of
Pablo’s action and the impact of his violent scenes are actually
undermined by the sheer level of detail in between them, and the
book, as a sum of its parts, is ultimately a little disappointing.
It is clever, for sure, but, I feel, significantly too
clever, because the longer the read goes on, the more absurdly woven
the tale becomes. While the plot is generally well-structured, with
a satisfying change in direction every now and then, it is way too
contrived – to a point where, sadly, you wonder if you know or care
who is who, or what is going on. Indeed, it does get to the point
where, as a reader, in the last third or quarter, you are imploring
of the author please, no more plot, because with less of it the book
would be very good indeed. There is simply far too much information
being imparted throughout the entire length of this book – much of
the non-action and backstory is explained in a very matter-of-fact
style, primarily by dialogue; with a book of this length, it became
very easy to become distracted. There are occasions of incredulity,
where you find the behaviour of the characters a touch baffling, and
the convenience of their decisions
a little fortuitous at times, but the biggest problem for me was the
plot – it is far too complicated. While it can be followed, this
is not really the issue – more so is that it is just too long.

"Never
Too Late To Die” is incredibly talky, and the first half is a real
slow-burn, which takes a long time to get going. I rarely, if ever,
award half-stars, but in this case 3 seemed too mean, and in no way
reflective of Pablo’s quality, whereas 4 was a touch too generous
for a book which struggled to hold my attention at times. Sure,
books should be well researched and detailed in depth – and Pablo
deserves credit and respect for his conscientious approach to this –
but fiction is also, first and foremost, entertainment. Pablo is
clearly well-travelled and knowledgeable, and deserves to be taken
seriously as an author, but I do feel his work could benefit from
containing this knowledge a touch. The
very high writing and editorial quality cannot be overlooked, but
neither can the distracting information imparted in almost every
scene. In a nutshell, I think I would like to have seen Pablo focus
more proportionately on maintaining the
atmosphere which
his action scenes so effectively create,
and
less on over-developing
the backstory. I felt very strongly that a good 100 pages could have
been culled from this book, its plot simplified, and it would
actually have been improved as a result.